God Calls Women to Lead

Transcription

1 4 God Calls Women to Lead by Carol Mutch Scripture reading Judges 4 Opening prayer Because we are yours, Lord, we ask that you make clear to us the ways in which our churches and we can be used for your mission and for your glory. Help us to look beyond what we think our abilities are or what we have been taught is our place in the church. Instill in us a keen sense of what it means to be your follower. So you ve never really thought of yourself as a leader. That s all well and good, but have you ever considered the possibility that God may have a different plan for you? When leaders are mentioned in the Bible, they usually are men. But in the fourth chapter of Judges in Old Testament times, no less we find two women who exemplify leadership in its finest, God-given form. Deborah had the gifts of wisdom, prophecy, and leadership, and she was honored in her community with position and power commensurate with her abilities. The Israelites, after twenty years of oppression under King Jabin of Hazor, a Canaanite king, cried out to God for help. God chose to send a prophetic message through Deborah. When she told Barak that God was commanding him to assemble an army to battle the Canaanites, he refused to obey unless she went with him. Has there been a time in your life when you believed God had a mission that God Carol Mutch has served as president of the General Synod; she is the second woman in the history of the RCA to do so. Currently she is a member of the RCA Commissioned Pastor Advisory Team. 27

2 wanted accomplished, but you and everyone else around you assumed that the person in charge would make it happen? And then you began to realize that it would only happen if you went with him or her? And then there was Jael. She was not in a position of power. She is simply described in the Bible as the wife of someone. When Sisera, the head of the Canaanite army, fled after defeat in battle, she took a bold step and invited him to seek refuge in her home, which he welcomed because her husband s family was on friendly terms with the Canaanite king. In keeping with the cultural context of his time, Sisera thought that the only good purpose Jael could serve was to bring him water and stand watch at the door. He even asked her to lie about his being there. But she was a woman of courage and conviction, and God chose her for a leadership role that far exceeded anyone s expectations. When Sisera fell asleep from exhaustion, she took what she had at hand, and killed him with a tent peg. As a result of these two women being used by God, we are told in verse twenty-four, from that time on Israel became stronger and stronger (NLT). Has the time come for you to view your contribution to the church as not limited by the roles that women have filled in the past? Are you capable of more than simply providing water and standing watch at the door? Is there some need that calls you forth to do something bold and courageous because the cause you champion and the God you serve demand no less than the leadership you can provide? Is there something that you feel passionate about, or a need or cause that you feel compelled to do something about? Are you looking around, wondering why no one is seeing that this issue is addressed? Maybe no one is doing it because God is calling you to lead the way. Just because you have not been a leader up to this point does not mean that you are incapable of leading in the future it s God s call, not yours. We tend to have too narrow a definition of the word leader. The fact is that we have all had the experience of being leaders without being fully aware that people are following us. In your everyday walk, by who you are and how you care about others, by how you spend your time and use your voice and model how a life should be lived, for better or worse, you are leading others by your example. Maybe the question is 28

3 not whether you are a leader but rather what type of leader you are. I read somewhere that no one can be a great leader until she or he has been a good follower. And that is certainly true not only in our secular lives but also in our faith journey. The best leaders are individuals who understand and value those they are called to lead those who have walked the same walk and experienced the same ups and downs. Brian Bauknight, in the book Body Building: Creating a Ministry Team through Spiritual Gifts, says, The effective leader is one who is first among equals. And if we are called by God to lead within the faith community, whether it be by teaching, serving others, caring, preaching, praying, or initiating new ways to be about God s work, we will do it well only if we have first learned to follow the Master. It is from personal experience that I have come to believe that God gives us little nudges in life. If we pay attention to this prodding, God will reveal to us adventures we could never have imagined, and, more importantly, in the process we may be blessed to realize the purpose for which God placed us on this earth. When I packed my bags for General Synod in June 1999, neither I nor any other delegate or staff member attending that annual gathering would have imagined in our wildest dreams that at the conclusion of synod I would leave as the newly elected vice president of General Synod. There were women delegates present with me who weren t even allowed to serve on consistory in their own churches. I was the only elder nominated in the balloting for vice president; all the other candidates had more impressive credentials and were better known throughout the denomination for work that they had selflessly given in time and talent to the church. The stated clerk of my own classis, where I had served as classis president, took me aside and recommended that I decline the nomination because he felt that others were more qualified and that I didn t stand a prayer of a chance of being elected. But throughout the process God kept giving me nudges God tenaciously pricked my soul. As I agonized over what to do, I couldn t seem to let go of the thought that I was meant to stand on the platform as a candidate because by doing so I would represent to all the delegates that elders and women also have gifts for leadership in the church and that God wants to use the gifts of all people. 29

4 The fact that I was actually elected continues to amaze people. I will never forget the woman who came up to me after the election, threw her arms around me, and said, Now I believe in miracles! That s what it feels like when God calls you out of obscurity into the light of his will for your life it is indeed a miracle. I was elected not because I was the best qualified or the most deserving, but because God chose that moment in time to lift up to the church the gifts of women and of the laity. God needed a leader, it was a cause for which I had a great deal of passion. God nudged, I responded and the path God set my feet on has been one that has brought me deep joy and fulfillment. Along the way, God has equipped me with gifts and abilities I never realized I had, in order that divine purposes could be accomplished. The biggest journeys always begin with one little step. God s plan for utilizing your gifts, passions, and unique history will provide deep fulfillment. But to know the joy of being used by God will probably require that you step outside your comfort zone to do something you never envisioned yourself doing. It is an adventure that will require you to truly believe and claim the words of Philippians 4:13: I can do all things through him who strengthens me. And if, by the grace of God, you find that you can do nothing else and nothing less than what the Lord has called you to do, then you will know that God has called you to be a leader: to use your God-given passion and ability to make a difference. That leadership can begin to happen right now, right where you have been placed. The last verse of Judges chapter four says that after Jael s bold action, Israel became stronger. We are the women of the church. We are the majority. We are the backbone of our congregations and our families. We should lead out of an awareness of whom we belong to and out of a passion that those who follow us give God first place in their lives. Yes, we are all leaders. We must understand that faith, talent, and the call of God on our lives need to be answered with courage, conviction, and confidence, because the leadership we are called to is blessed by God. And if we answer that call, the church will become stronger and stronger. 30

5 Questions 1. When have you experienced frustration because something you felt strongly about didn t happen? 2. Do you think of yourself as useful only in traditional women s tasks? Is it God or those around you who give you that perception? 3. Which woman in the passage from Judges 4 can you relate to the most? How does what she did affect how you view your potential for leadership? 4. What do you feel passionate about? 5. Is there some need or cause that you can bring to others attention, and for which you can then be part of the solution? 6. What is God nudging you to do right now? If you don t sense anything, will you commit to praying that God will reveal a plan to you so that your life can be used to its fullest for the Lord s ministry? Closing prayer Lord, lead us so that we might lead not because we desire the acclaim of being a leader, but because your church today, more than ever, needs deeply committed people, close to your heart, who will hear your call to be instrumental in changing, electrifying, and deepening your church. Allow us to hear what you are saying and to go where you are calling us to lead. Give us the courage to speak up and to seek change when we are convicted by you that it needs to happen. Help us to hear each other as well, to cheer each other along in the journey, and to rejoice that we do not do any of this alone. Give us grace, laughter, peace, and confidence, and the joy of walking every step of the way with you. Amen. 31